Look At Me
by Petite Sirene
Summary: Akemi Yoriko is a nobody at Rikkai, but when her best friend gets picked on by Yukimura Seiichi, she finally steps up and tries to stand up for her. Yukimura's attention turns to her and her friend who she's trying to protect. YukimuraXOC & othersXOC
1. Noticing

**Chapter One**

**Noticing**

The sound was tiring. The incessant screech of chalk on a chalkboard made me want to go and just rip the fragment from my teacher's hand. I was a first year here at Rikkai Dai Fuzoku High School, and I should have gotten used to the sound already. After all, it had been about three weeks.

I gave out a yawn and covered it with my hand. I wasn't ever the sort of person that talked much in class. I was practically known as the shyest girl in the whole school. I wasn't shy though, I was just quiet. I knew when to keep my mouth shut. I wasn't truly serious with anything yet, I was only serious about piano. I see the people at my school who are serious about everything. Even my idiot sempai Niou Masaharu was serious about something. There were eight (was it eight? I can't remember, I never noticed that sort of thing, no wonder I'm known as the lazy person in my class) people in the school who were the most well known. They had won the tennis nationals for two years in a row, but lost the two years after that. They were the tennis regulars.

I wish I could say I knew them, but I didn't. Well, I kind of did. Who didn't know them? I went to the same middle school as all of them and everything was always like "regulars this" and "regulars that" and "the guys are so hot". I'm not going to lie, they are hot, but they would never look at a person like me. Everyone on that team was my sempai. They were all either a 3rd or 2nd year, while I stayed a lowly 1st year.

The bell finally rang and I jumped up from my seat and dashed out the door. There was no one that I liked in my class, so I was always happy to leave it. I ran to the lunch room and got there before anyone else did. I took my usual order of melon bread and milk and sat at the table I always sat at. It was _our_ table. When I say _our_ table, I meant that it was the table that me and my friends always sat at every single day.

"Damn it!" my friend Tanaka Nana (last name first) said as she plopped down at the table. Her brown crimps were in a ponytail.

"What's wrong this time?" I asked.

"Ugh! It's just that my club always tries to practice, but then fan girls go and swarm around the boys' courts, which are right next to ours, and it's hard to concentrate. It's so stupid! Then those stupid fan girls go and try to join the girls' tennis team to get closer to the guys but they never work in the clubs, they just stand around and stare. I swear, if I have to listen to another girl scream for the guys, I will personally rip—"

"Nana!" I interrupted, "calm down and breath a bit will you? Stop ranting! I know what you're going to say. Anyways, aren't you just angry at all of the fan girls because you have a crush on every guy regular on the tennis team?"

"Yeah, but there's a difference."

"And what is it . . . ?"

"I am actually good at tennis. If you've forgotten, I'm the tennis team captain for the girls."

"How could I forget . . . ?"

Just then four of our other friends came along and sat down at the same time.

"Wow, synchronization!" Nana said.

"Thanks," Tsumi Asami said. She had short black hair that tickled just the bottoms of her ears. She hated long hair and always complained about how it got in the way.

The three other people at the table were all guys. There was Uchi Hiro and Uchi Ryoki. They were both twins that looked exactly alike and even talked alike. I swear, sometimes I think that they're one person split in two because they're all so alike. Then there was Goshima Takei. He had glasses that covered his eyes completely like Yagyuu Hiroshi from the tennis team, but Takei looked nothing like him, he had wavy blond hair that was always unruly.

I gave a sigh as I looked at all of my friends. If we were sent back in time and we didn't end up meeting each other on accident, we would've never been friends. We were all completely different from each other. There was only one thing that everyone had in common: they all were going to major in art. When I say everyone, I mean all of my friends not including myself. I don't care about art at all to be honest. You would think that Nana would want to have a future in tennis or something close, but when she wasn't chasing after the boys' regulars, she was teaching pottery classes at the community college. I was surprised myself when I learned. Nana cared about pottery more than anything else, and I felt left out. Asami was a sculptor and a painter. I had never seen anything from her that was less than magnificent. I'm always blown away by what she is able to do. The twins were in the same department as Asami and loved to annoy the hell out of her most of the time. Even though they joke around too much and never take anything seriously, they were at the level of greatness that Asami was at. Last of all, Takei, he was a photographer. I didn't know if that counted as an art, but apparently it did.

My friends were all avid art students that were all going to go to the Tokyo University of Art. I on the other hand had no true future, no passion about anything. I felt like the black sheep out of my family of friends.

I forgot to introduce myself didn't I? My name is Akemi Yoriko. Everyone thinks that I'll be the someone great, someone wonderful. But that doesn't mean anything, I may get good grades, and I may seem like a goody-two-shoes because I never talk or do anything bad.

"Hello? Earth to Yoriko?" Kyrui said.

"Hm?"

"You're spacing out again! When will you get serious about anything? You have to get your life ready."

"It is ready."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to be a famous piano player." There was one thing that I was sort of serious about; the piano. I was forced to learn it at a young age, and no matter how hard I try to quit it, I just can't.

"You're not serious, are you? You can't just play piano at random clubs or whatever and expect to earn a decent living."

"I wouldn't be talking, art student. I heard that artists are usually very poor until after they die." I waved a carrot stick around in the air. I could sound so sarcastic with my friends, it was a gift really. Like I said before, everyone thinks I'm good just because I seem shy, but (again) like I said before, I'm not shy, just quiet.

"You have to understand something, Yori," Asami said. "We all can't live out our dreams, so we have to get a backup plan for everything. For example, if I don't make it as an artist, I'm going to go into medical school afterwards and become a nurse."

"But you all actually have talent!" I cried out. "I don't have anything but the piano! Which is a useless instrument anyways! I only get good grades, but I'm not really majoring in anything, and I'm a nobody! I won't make it anywhere in life and I won't be able to do anything."

"That's not true!" everyone said.

"You'll find your calling," Takei reassured.

"Yeah! That's right!" the Hiro and Ryoki agreed. There they went again, being all . . . twin-like and psychic.

"If you don't want to be a nobody," Asami started. Her eyes met mine and she had the coldest stare in her eyes. She always was the serious one out of all of us. "If you don't want to be a nobody, make everyone look at you."

If only it was that simple. Asami was serious about almost everything, and I knew that there was nothing more she cared about then art. If only I could listen to her and actually be like her.

"We are all doing what's best for ourselves," Takei started. "Asami, maybe you should just let Yoriko do what's best for herself. We can't all be like you."

"I'm sorry, Yori. I know you're under a lot of stress right now," Asami apologized.

"It's fine, Asami," I said. The truth was, it wasn't fine. I wish I could make people look at me, but I didn't have the sort of air that Asami had. She had a commanding air, and it was at times even more commanding than Nana's, even though Nana was the captain of the girls' tennis team.

"Just do what's best for you," Nana agreed with Takei.

I could feel the looks of my friends. Even if the looks weren't mean, they were disapproving. Well, they weren't necessarily, but I felt as if they were all a bit disappointed in me.

The bell rang, interrupting the awkward silence that had somehow sneaked in on me and my friends. We all parted ways, and Asami apologized to me once again, but I didn't want an apology, I wanted her help in making me change. I didn't want to continue living life this way. It was just . . . wrong.

"Meet me in the art room after school," Asami said to me before she left. It was like she read my mind.

After school, I rushed to the art room, but Asami wasn't there. Instead someone else was, it was a boy that had a bit of a girly look about him. There was no one in the whole school that didn't know him. His blue hair was restrained a bit because of a green headband he was wearing and he was already changed into his tennis uniform. His name was Yukimura Seiichi.

"Do you know if Tsumi Asami is here?" I asked him.

"Asami-san? I have no idea," he replied with a smile.

"You know her?"

"Of course I do, she is an art student, like myself."

"I see . . ."

Being alone with him was creeping me out a bit. His smile made me a bit unsettled, it was as if he was too nice. He was overly nice.

"Yori!" a voice called from behind me.

"Asami!" I exclaimed while turning around.

"Asami-san," Yukimura greeted.

"Hello, Yukimura-sempai," Asami said. "What are you doing here? The tennis team has already started practice."

"I just stopped by to gather my stuff."

"Well, good-bye then, Yukimura-sempai."

"In a rush, Asami-san?"

"Not at all, Yukimura-sempai."

There was a crackle in the air and Asami and Yukimura just stood there staring at each other. It was as if they were having a battle, and whoever moved or blinked first would lose.

"Sorry, Asami-san," Yukimura finally said. He gave her his trademark smile. "I have to get going, my team is going to be worried if their captain is missing." He turned to me then. "And I believe your name is Yori? Well, Yori-san, I'll see you again sometime soon. In fact, I'm sure that I will see you again, after all, you are friends with my adorable younger sister Asami. Good bye now everyone." He walked away then. His smile was ever more present then.

I stood in shock for about ten seconds before I turned towards Asami. She was getting her art supplies and stuffing them in a bag angrily. I took a step closer to her and said, "Asami! Are you really his younger sister?"

"He's a liar. I'm not his younger sister," she replied, still not looking at me.

"Is that the truth?"

"You aren't here to learn about me, Yori, you're here because you need help, correct?"

"Yeah! But how can I trust you if you don't tell me anything?"

Asami turned to me then. Her eyes were angry, and I had never seen her that angry before. "You want to know the truth? I'm not truly his little sister, I was just adopted into the family, understand? I hate him! He acts as if I'm a charity case! Just because his father was good friends with mine, his family thinks that they should be the good guys and adopt me after what happened. That's why I never acknowledge him at school. You understand, right? I just have a feeling though, that because of today, he's going to start acknowledging me as his sister in school. I just want to turn eighteen already and never have to look back at this time with him and his family pretending to be my family. He's sadistic, you know. He truly does hate me for intruding upon him and his family. I was able to keep my original last name, so it was easy for me to pretend as if I didn't know him, but I think that's going to change now."

"I don't think so," I said. I wanted to approach her and make her feel better, but the way her body was held was screaming at me to not get close to her.

"I have to go," she suddenly said. Her voice was hoarse and she rushed away past me. I guess we weren't going to work on anything that day.

I wasn't able to see Asami the next day until lunch. She had a sort of distant look in her eyes. It was as if she wasn't truly there with us that day. She was right about one thing though, Yukimura was going to start acknowledging her as his sister and acknowledging me as her friend too.

"Asami," he called from his table.

The look in Asami's eyes didnt' disappear as she turned her head. I noticed that Yukimura didn't use her name with a suffix anymore. "Hm?" she said.

"I haven't introduced my little sister to anyone in this school yet," he replied.

The whole cafeteria stopped talking. It was as if they too, were all frozen in shock like I was yesterday. Asami didn't say anything, and she didnt' move an inch from her spot at our table. Hiro, Ryoki, Takei, and Nana were all staring at her in shock. I looked over at the table where Yukimura was sitting and I could see the shock that was on his teammates faces too. Kirihara Akaya was about to fall out of his seat when Marui Bunta pulled him back. Even the stoic vice captain Sanada Genichirou looked as if he had just seen an elephant come up and talk to everyone.

"Maybe later," Asami finally said. She stood up from the seat and threw away her lunch. I didn't know where she was going, but she just left without saying anything to her brother or her friends.

I rushed after her then. I was the only person in the room ahead of time who knew anything about her and her "brother" Yukimura. I wasn't able to find her, I ran around the whole school and I still couldn't find her. I knew that the others were looking for her too. They wanted an explanation, like I had wanted yesterday.

Yukimura seemed to come out of nowhere and I bumped into him.

"Have you seen my younger sister Asami?" Yukimura asked.

"No, I haven't," I replied coldly.

"I just wanted to talk to her about her last name, I think our family wants her to change it to Yukimura now."

"How could you?" I screamed at him. "You act as if you care about her, but you're actually hurting her! What type of a big brother are you?"

"What do you mean?" His face was completely calm, and he gave a smile. "I do care about her, after all, she's my younger sister."

"Stop pretending!" I couldn't stand it anymore, I rushed up to him and slapped him across the face. He moved out of the way fast enough and I ended up hitting air.

"I don't think you should be acting too rashly, Akemi Yoriko, also known as Yori. You see, you've been invisible up until now, which has been good for you. But you've just been attracting too much attention lately. You've made me notice you, and I wouldn't exactly say that that is a good thing. I think, that we'll all be very good friends, in the future."

"What . . . ?" I said. But he was already out of sight.


	2. 180 Degrees

Sorry everyone for taking so long to update this story! I've been updating a story everyday for three days in a row now! I'm on a fanficiton addiction! Thank you to my reviewer who pointed out the obvious that 360 degrees is back to where you started because that's for a circle. Ha ha. So I changed the title.

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**Chapter Two**

**180 Degrees  
**

I didn't understand what Yukimura said when he said that we would be good friends in the future. I made him notice me, but not in a good way, and not even in a normal way. I was in trouble. That's all that I could admit. How could I not be? I mean, to everyone, Yukimura seemed like a very nice and polite guy. I did hear that he could be quite sadistic under his smile though. Don't judge a book by its cover. That's the age-old saying that definitely applies to Yukimura.

I spent my whole week at school walking around as if I was afraid something would jump out at me. I was cautious and on-guard about 24/7. I would look all around me when I was walking and I always tread on a light foot. I must have looked like a shifty person to a stranger, but Asami knew why I was walking like that. I had told her all about what her brother said to me.

Our other friends were still confused. They didn't exactly know what was going on. They were a bit peeved at Asami for keeping such a big secret. They were a little angry at me too, but when I told them that I just found out the day before because Yukimura told me, they seemed to have calmed down a little bit.

Asami was just . . . not herself. She wasn't the serious and yet energetic girl that she used to be. She was quiet, and her mind wandered too much. She acted as if she was caught in a fog that she just couldn't get out of, and there was always a sort of dreamy and blank expression on her face. She didn't even pay attention anymore when she walked. She was constantly bumping into people and into things. Maybe that was Yukimura's goal: to mess with Asami's concentration and to totally screw her up. Well, if that was his goal, then it sure as hell was working.

I didn't know what was going on at Asami's home, but I assumed that Yukimura had started to act more . . . sweet towards her, but sweet in a totally messed up way that actually seemed sort of mean. He was probably being overly sweet. I _really_ didn't want to know what Asami was going through at home, it just seemed sort of . . . messed up. I mean, Yukimura comes out with that big confession that shocks _everyone_ even his teammates, so that must mean that he's doing something at home too.

When all of our friends found out about Asami being Yukimura's (adopted) younger sister, Nana seemed the angriest. Well, she wasn't angry like how Hiro, Ryoki, and Takei were angry. She was angry that Asami kept the secret so long because then if Asami had told, then Nana could have become closer friends with the guys.

Asami was probably feeling horrible on the inside. I couldn't even imagine how it was like for her. All I could do was hope that she would get better. That's all I had to hope for. I couldn't do anything for her unfortunately. I wanted to help her, but I just didn't know how.

Asami wasn't herself for the whole week. I spent the weekend thinking of ways to help her. She was one of my best friends, and I just needed to do _something_. My weekend was uneventful. I refused to leave my room for the most part. I just didn't know what to do.

On Monday, I was reluctant to get out of bed. I would have to go to school and see Asami still all . . . like the ghost of herself, and then I would have to see Yukimura. He had been acknowledging all of us because we're Asami's friends, but I had a feeling that he was acknowledging me the most just to pick on me since I tried to slap him that day where he completely ruin Asami.

I got on my Rikkai high school uniform and struggled to get on my bike. I pedaled as slow as I could to school before I could become late. I remembered what Yukimura had said to me, and I didn't want to be notice by him. I didn't want any of it. As soon as I reached the school grounds, I tried to avoid the tennis courts where I knew the tennis regulars would be at the moment. I quickly ran to my classroom. I was one of the last ones there since I went so slow in the morning.

I didn't pay attention at all in any of my classes. I was too busy writing plans in my notebook. I was figuring out ways to help Asami. She was one of my best friends and I wanted to do everything I could to help her. I kept rewriting and recrossing out plans that I wrote in my notebook. I erased so much that when it was finally lunchtime, I didn't have any eraser left to use.

I walked into the lunch room and nearly dropped by bento. Sitting at the tennis regulars' table was none other than Asami. She was wedged between Yukimura and Yagyuu Hiroshi. I gulped down a bit of my saliva before I headed over to their table to talk to Asami.

I tapped on her shoulder and said, "You don't want to sit with us today?" I gestured towards the table where we always sat at.

Asami looked at me for a moment with a guilty expression. She seemed to partly be back to her old self again.

Instead of answering me, Yukimura answered for Asami. "I asked my younger sister to sit with us today since I wanted to spend some time with her."

"Oh . . ." I had no reply to that. I doubted that he had simply just _asked_ Asami to sit with him. He probably forced her to. I looked at Asami. "Well, we'll be sitting where we always sit if you want to come back later." I turned around without looking at any of the regulars, and I could almost feel Yukimura smiling.

I stumbled over to our table and plopped down next to Takei and Ryoki. Hiro was sitting next to Ryoki, and Nana was no where in sight. I wondered vaguely if she as still angry at Asami. The boys already understood the situation, and they felt bad for Asami. My mind wandered back over to the memory of Asami. I remembered that just minutes ago, her expression had almost seemed _normal_ again. Did that mean she was adjusting to the fact that Yukimura had finally accepted her as his younger sister?

"I . . . I have to go," I said suddenly. I didn't know why I suddenly felt sick. The feeling just came out of nowhere.

The twins Hiro and Ryoki gave me questioning looks before just shrugging it off.

Takei asked, "Why are you leaving now? Are you okay?" He saw the sick expression on my face. I felt as if I was going to vomit.

"I'm fine. Really. I'll be back . . . I'm just . . . going to go get something."

I was trembling, but I was trembling from anger. As soon as I got away from the lunchroom, I was able to be rational again. I realized that I was getting sick from being near Yukimura. He made me sick to my stomach because of how he was. He looked so nice on the outside, but on the inside he was so sadistic. It made me sick his deceptive looks.

I was near a tree and I started kicking it, imagining it was Yukimura's face. Every time I hit it, the Yukimura tree got bruised and bloodied. I kept kicking it until I was satisfied with the look of bloody Yukimura.

"It's not good to hit trees you know," a familiar voice said softly.

I turned around to face Yukimura smiling his little innocent smile. I let all of my anger show on my face.

"What's wrong?" he asked as if he was really concerned about me.

"Give us back Asami," I hissed.

"She's my younger sister," he shrugged.

"Why are you doing this?" My anger had all faded away and was replaced with defeat.

"What's wrong with spending time with my younger sister?"

"Why are you doing it now then? I mean, she thinks you hate her you know! Not only that, but you've been hiding from everyone that you had a little sister. You didn't even acknowledge her existence in school until just last week! What made you change your mind now?"

He looked at me with that innocent expression again, but under that expression I could see a look of slight evil. "It's simply because you were there when Asami went to get her art supplies."

"What?" I was taken aback. "Are you saying that this is my fault? I'm a nobody!"

"You're not a nobody. You won't be for long anyways. You keep continuing to intrigue me. No one's ever made me slip up before at school."

"You mean your fake innocent mask?" I spat out.

"Well, when I see you angry like this, it just brings out the real me and it makes me want to tease you more."

"Tease me?"

"Well, Asami seems to be better, don't you agree?"

"You're so sick!"

"Even though I have a bit of a sadistic personality, I'm actually a very nice person, Yoriko-san." He had a sincerely nice look on his face this time.

I ignored the sincerity and shook my head. "Don't call me by my first name so easily!"

"I'm sorry then Akemi-san."

I sighed. I couldn't be adverse to him when he was so nice to me. Everyone thought he was nice, but when he first spoke to me that afternoon when I tried to slap him, he seemed like a jerk. He was still a jerk, but now he was getting sincerely nice, and it was starting to annoy me. What was with his personality switch? Was it because his mask has slipped? I was getting seriously confused at what was going on.

"Why are you nice all of a sudden?" I asked suspiciously.

He sighed in exasperation. "I'm trying to be civil to you right now, Akemi-san. What I mean is, I know I haven't been the nicest person you met ever since I announced that Asami was my sister, but I'm trying to be civil now because of Asami."

"You were just a jerk two minutes ago, what's with the change?"

"I didn't mean to be such a . . . jerk as you call it. I came over here to ask you something, but you just brought out that side of me."

"What is it?"

"Asami is very sad, and I am her older brother. Like I said, I am a nice person once you truly get to know me. I may be a bit of a . . . sadist, but that doesn't mean I'm not nice. I care deeply and personally for my teammates and my family. There's nothing more important in my life. Anyways, I know it's wrong what I've been doing to Asami, and she . . . hasn't been herself exactly. I want her to be back to normal when she was happy. She's making me feel . . . guilt. And even though she's adopted, she's been my younger sister for a while now."

"You've been feeling guilty?" I gaped in surprise. "There's no way _that's_ true. I mean, you were so mean to her last week!"

"I wasn't mean, I was just announcing the truth. I thought that it would be the right thing. I've been ignoring Asami as my little sister for so long that I've decided to announce it to the whole school. I wasn't trying to be mean."

"Liar." I got angry again. "You knew that she was totally fine being ignored by you!"

"I'm trying to be civil here," he sighed in frustration. "I'm trying to ask you to come to have dinner at my house tonight."

"What? There's no way I would ever have dinner at your house!"

"It's not for me, it's for Asami. She's sad when she's at home, and you're her best friend, so I'm trying to get her to cheer up. My parents aren't happy when she's sad. They feel sad too and they spend all of their time trying to comfort her. They love her already. I'm trying to do the right thing here for my family. So please do it for Asami."

"I'll think about it."

"I'll take that as a yes then. Please, wait for me after school and I'll bring you to my home. I want it to be a surprise for her."

He had to be joking. He was actually _doing _ something for Asami? His attitude changed 180 degrees. There had to be an inner reason why he was doing this for her, and I was going to find out that night.

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I_**t would be much appreciated if you guys reviewed. Thank you.^^**_


	3. Everybody Has a Reason for Something

****Hey everyone! I'm sorry for being so out of commission. I've just been busy with high school, and with life (which is going eh). I really do want to update more chapters! I do, but with writer's block and life in the way, it's just been hard. So even though I want to up date more often, I can't promise you guys that I will. I'm sorry. :( But I will whenever I can, so be on the lookout!

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**Chapter Three**

**Everybody Has a Reason for Something**

I didn't want to go to Yukimura's house that night and eat dinner with his family. I then understood why Asami never invited us to her house. It was because she shared a house with Yukimura, and she didn't want any of us to find out. Nana would have been ecstatic and would have asked to come over every day in the hopes of seeing all of the regulars, Takei would've been supportive, but in a Takei way, the twins, Hiro and Ryoki, wouldn't have cared at all, and me, I would have probably done nothing.

It was hurting her though, to be the unwanted sister in Yukimura's family. He didn't want her as a sister, and even if his family wanted her, they mostly did it out of charity in the beginning. Yukimura was cruel, and after years of just ignoring her as his adopted sister, he came out and told everyone just to hurt her. Just when she was finally feeling okay about being the unwanted one, he comes out and acts as if he's always wanted a sister.

I had decided to walk home with Nana. She was talking nonstop about all of the regulars that she was just so "in love with".

"Nana," I stopped and called her name.

"What is it Yori? Can't you see I was ranting there?" she replied.

"I'm having dinner with Yukimura tonight."

". . ." Silence filled the street as the information slowly sank into Nana's mind. When she finally processed what I said, she let out an ear-splitting scream that scared all of the neighborhood pets away.

"Tell me you are not joking. Please tell me that." Nana said.

"I'm not joking. He invited me today so that Asami would feel better about being his sister or some crap like that," I sighed.

"You don't believe him? How can you not? Yukimura is just so. . . wonderful."

"Well first off . . . he's a liar. And second, he's a sadistic bastard."

"Don't talk about Yukimura that way!" Nana scolded. "He's just stressed from tennis. You should talk to him though. Then you'd understand. You have to somehow get me invited tonight."

"What about the guys?"

"Who? You mean the regulars?"

". . . our guy friends! Takei, Ryoki, and Hiro! We're suppose to hang out tonight. I would, and I hate to cancel, but I have to be there for Asami tonight. She's separated herself, and it's just not good for her."

"Well, I'll hang with the guys, you just go do your thing okay?"

I raised her eyebrows in astonishment. I didn't think Nana would be so calm about the situation.

Nana turned her head to me with a sly smile on her face. "I'll definitely do it, but I want you to get me Yukimura-sempai's autograph! Please? I can't ask myself because I'm the captain of the girls' tennis team. What will he think of me then? Of the rest of the girls? It just won't be good for the tennis teams' relationship."

"You want me to do what?" The expression on my face must have been priceless.

"Please please please? I need you to dooooo that! It's not fair at all, Yoriko. You're being a total meanie right now."

I sighed in exasperation. Only Nana could make a serious situation about Yukimura into a funny one in two seconds. It did make me feel better though. I could always think about Nana wanting Yukimura's autograph if I got nervous at dinner.

"I believe in you though," Nana said with a smile. "Even if you are a nobody."

"Wow, thanks," I replied sarcastically.

"Come on, Yori. We both know that you don't do _anything_. You're not passionate about _anything_. And you just don't have a real hobby."

"I play the piano."

"Not like super-serious-five-hours-a-day playing the piano."

"Eh."

"Good luck tonight, and don't forget, please get me the autograph! Thanks! Bye!"

Nana ran off suddenly, probably to the boys' house. I decided to walk home by myself. I needed to freshen up for dinner that night, and I needed to tell my parents where I would be. I came home feeling anxious. My parents were surprised when I told them I'd be eating dinner at Asami's house, since I never went to Asami's house, but they were fine with it. I tried to sleep when I got home, just to calm my nerves, but that didn't work. So I paced around my room. Everything I did just worsened my anxiety, so I just stopped and stared into my bedroom mirror, trying to give myself a pep talk.

"Okay, Yori, you can do this. This is for your best friend Asami. You can do anything if it's to help her, even stand up against her terribly mean older brother. Just ignore him at dinner, talk to Asami, and act as if everything is fine. Okay, I can do this. Got it."

At exactly five o' clock I left my house to walk to Asami's. Her house was sort of far away, but that didn't bother me. I liked walking. I found that it helped clear my head even more. In 45 minutes I reached Asami's house, with 15 minutes to spare before the time I had to be there. I braced myself before ringing the doorbell.

As soon as I pushed the button, Yukimura opened the door with his usual smile on his face. His eyes were kind, but deep within the pupils I saw that they were cold. His blue eyes were deep, almost indigo, and that caused him to have a faraway look. One that people couldn't distinguish between kindness or coldness.

"Yoriko-san, you made it," he stated, leading me into the house. It was a traditional Japanese house with tatami mats, so I slipped my shoes off before following him into the living room.

"Where's Asami?" I asked.

"She's sleeping right now. I think it would be best if we didn't wake her up until later. For the past few weeks she's been sleeping really badly, and she just started sleeping on a normal pattern recently. So I'd rather not wake her up right when she's starting to get healthy again. I was hoping that by bringing you to dinner tonight, she would actually eat something. My parents have been worried that about her because she hasn't been eating regularly. She'll eat maybe one small meal a day, and that's it. I make her sit with me during lunch because I hope that by sitting with me she'll eat, but she doesn't."

I stared at him long and hard after what he said. According to his little speech, it seemed like he really cared about her, but the small smile on his face said otherwise. One would think that after years of being brother and sister he would finally accept her into his family, but maybe not. Yukimura was never good at sharing or losing in any way, and having his parents attention on another child must have driven him crazy.

"Okay then," I replied. I wanted him to know that I didn't believe him. He must have caught it in my voice because he raised an eyebrow, but he didn't comment on it. He just reclined more into the sofa as we waited for dinner to be ready. At 6 o' clock he stood up to go and wake Asami, as we would be having dinner at 6:15 he said.

Asami stumbled out of her bedroom with Yukimura supporting her. Her face looked healthier. It wasn't sallow or pale anymore. It was almost full, and her cheeks were a beautiful rosy color. Fixing her sleeping pattern really helped her health. The only thing wrong with her was how thin she was under her clothes. She really must not have been eating. Though she did look a lot healthier, her bony body betrayed weakness and frailty.

I got up to hug her, trying to give her some of my strength.

Soon, we were called to dinner. Yukimura's parents treated me kindly, and they said they were glad to finally meet one of Asami's friends. When they said her name, their eyes clouded over with worry. They truly loved her like a daughter they said, and would do anything for her. Yukimura ate silently while his parents talked of the love they felt for Asami, and Asami just stared embarrassingly at them. She seemed almost normal then, and she ate everything on her plate, even asking for seconds. During the whole ordeal Yukimura kept a smile on his face, but didn't say anything. Asami looked over at Yukimura several times to make sure he was okay. Even though they didn't like each other much, it seemed that Asami genuinely cared for Yukimura and his feelings. She probably did really like him, as a person and a brother. Too bad the same couldn't be said of Yukimura. He did look at me several times though during the dinner. Not a word was uttered from him as his family talked. I often joined in on the conversation, but my eye was always focused on Yukimura.

After dinner, I hung out with Asami a bit, and we caught up.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I'm good, a lot better now thank you."

"And Yukimura?"

"He's been very kind to me, very decent. He doesn't speak much to me, which is to be expected, but his actions are very caring."

I looked at her surprised, she had a tiny smile on her face as she said that.

"I feel like I'm finally accepted by his family," she continued. "I know that his parents have actually loved me like a daughter for a long time, but I always felt like the outcast because the perfect Yukimura didn't accept me. I don't know if he accepts me now, but he's been very kind."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. He was actually being decent to her. The fact though that he still didn't talk to her bugged me a bit. He still didn't accept her fully, even though it had been years. It bothered me how much he didn't care for her. Even being decent to someone doesn't mean you care for them.

"Don't say anything to him please," Asami begged. She looked me in the eyes, and for a second, she looked like herself again; cool, confident, and beautiful Asami. She closed her eyes though, and she was once again fragile and unresponsive Asami. She was nothing like how she was before.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 7:30. It would take me 45 minutes to walk home, and by then it would already past eight.

"Asami, I'm sorry for leaving early, but I have to go home now," I gently told her.

"Oh." She finally seemed to focus back on me after blanking out for a few minutes. "Let me just ask Yukimura if he would walk you home. It's dangerous for a girl to walk home alone at this time." She left the room and quickly came back with Yukimura. He had on his jacket and he led me to the door.

I felt uncomfortable with him so I tried to do everything as quickly as possible. I slipped on my shoes and we were out the door in seconds. About halfway home, I glanced at him for the first time. We hadn't exchanged any words at all.

"Yes?" he asked without looking at me.

I thought for a moment. "What were your real reasons asking me to come to dinner? I don't believe you when you said it was for Asami. You don't care about her, she cares about you though. At least she's the bigger person."

"You're wrong," he stated quickly. "I do care for her. I help her every day, and I take care of her when I can."

"Are you doing that because you want to or because you're forced to."

"I'm not forced to do anything, Yoriko-san. I do it because Asami being sad causes my parents to be in grief, and Asami is in grief too. I don't want anyone who lives in my house to be unhappy."

"So I guess that everything just goes back to what you want, Yukimura-sempai."

He didn't say anything to my last statement. So I just took it to be true. He might care for Asami a little bit, but it wasn't _for _her that he was being kind. It was for him, and for the happiness that he would feel if his whole family was happy. We didn't talk the rest of the way home, and when we reached my door, I bid him goodbye.

Yukimura hesitated for a moment before grabbing my arm and saying, "I care about them, I really do, but you have no idea what it's like for me to see someone so sad and sick in my house like how Asami is. I can now only imagine what my parents and Asami felt when I was in the hospital during middle school. I need them to be happy because I need to be happy, and there's nothing wrong with that, Yoriko-san. So just understand that. I know you have a habit of picking fights with me."

I didn't say anything in reply to him, just gave him a disapproving look, and he left soon afterwards. I unlocked my door and slipped into my house. I had never had a passion for anything before in my life, but I felt with a burning in my heart that I needed to help Asami, and Yukimura too.


End file.
